Battle of Tourcoing

The Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794) was a major battle of the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between the army of France and the Coalition army of Austria, Great Britain, and Hanover.

The Austrian general Karl Mack von Leiberich intended to envelop the French army holding an awkward bulge at Menin and Courtrai, and a 74,000 Austro-British-Hanoverian army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg attacked the French forces. The 70,000-strong French army was commanded by Joseph Souham, who was leading the army in the absence of Jean-Charles Pichegru. Souham and his divisonal commanders Jean Moreau and Jacques Philippe Bonnaud improvised a counterattack rather than be encircled, and the widely separated and badly coordinated Coalition columns were defeated. The Coalition forces suffered a costly setback, losing 5,500 troops and 60 guns.